Wilkinson murder trial postponed until January

The trial for a Willits man accused of torturing and killing his 84-year-old grandfather was put off until January in Mendocino County Superior Court Thursday.

Kenneth Wilkinson, 23, could face life in prison without parole if he is convicted of killing his grandfather, Richard Mel Wilkinson, and a special circumstance that he tortured the elder Wilkinson by dragging him behind a pickup truck for nearly six miles on the night of March 17, 2012, according to the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office.

Wilkinson's defense attorney, Mendocino County Public Defender Linda Thompson, told the court Thursday that she needs to confirm the availability of four doctors and was waiting on another psychiatrist.

"There is one more doctor who needs to evaluate everything," Thompson said in court.

She recommended rescheduling the trial, and when prosecutor Paul Sequeira of the Mendocino County District Attorney's Office didn't object, the trial was set for Jan. 13. The trial is expected to continue for 10 days.

The court originally set a trial date in November 2012, and has since rescheduled it to February, May, September, November and now January while Thompson took over for one of her deputies on the case, and then waited for opinions from psychologists.

Thompson had in March changed Wilkinson's not-guilty plea to one of not guilty by reason of insanity (commonly called an NGI plea). The court appointed two experts -- one for the prosecution and one for the defense -- to evaluate Wilkinson's mental health at the time of the crime.

Thompson withdrew the NGI plea in July, saying she believed her client drank alcohol and used bath salts and methamphetamine, causing a "self-induced mental health state" that doesn't meet the legal definition of insanity.

That legal definition requires that, because of a mental defect or disorder, the defendant didn't understand the nature or quality of the act, or could not distinguish between right and wrong.

The term "bath salts" refers to a synthetic drug containing an amphetamine-like substance, and has been known to cause psychotic behavior and violence, according to health experts.

Still at issue are the questions of whether Wilkinson was capable of making a decision, according to Thompson, and when the elder Wilkinson died.

Thompson said Thursday that she's still hopeful the case can be resolved out of court. The prosecution is seeking a first-degree murder conviction; Thompson said in July that she wants the charge reduced to voluntary manslaughter.

Authorities were called just after 11 p.m. the night of the incident to an East Hill Road home after family members reported that some kind of assault had taken place and that the elder Wilkinson was missing.

Deputies searched the area and found his body apparently dumped down a steep, brushy hillside off of the winding, dirt-and-rock Mariposa Creek Road.

Tiffany Revelle can be reached at udjtr@ukiahdj.com, on Twitter @TiffanyRevelle or at 468-3523.